


Its Voyage Closed and Done

by driftingashes



Series: Winter Violets Shorts [1]
Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Angst, Crying, Drabble, Fae & Fairies, Fae Deceit | Janus Sanders, Fae Morality | Patton Sanders, Fear, Fear of Death, Gen, Genderfluid Deceit | Janus Sanders, Hurt/Comfort, Kid Anxiety | Virgil Sanders, Mortality, Neopronouns, Non-Binary Morality | Patton Sanders, One Shot, Protective Deceit | Janus Sanders, Sad, Sad Deceit | Janus Sanders, Winter Violets 'verse, Wordcount: 100-500
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-04
Updated: 2020-06-04
Packaged: 2021-03-02 23:48:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 492
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24425275
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/driftingashes/pseuds/driftingashes
Summary: Humans really were so very fragile.(Alternatively, Janus contemplates human mortality.)A one shot set in the "Winter Violets" 'verse. Title from the poem "O Captain! My Captain" by Walt Whitman.
Relationships: Anxiety | Virgil Sanders & Deceit | Janus Sanders, Deceit | Janus Sanders & Morality | Patton Sanders
Series: Winter Violets Shorts [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1764298
Comments: 8
Kudos: 37





	Its Voyage Closed and Done

**Author's Note:**

> They’re talking like princesses in a Philippa Gregory book...I don’t remember making the dialogue look like that dhjdjsjdjdd but I guess that sort of gives you a bit of a reference on just how long they’ve been around. Cuz y’know. People don’t usually talk like that anymore.
> 
> xx Asher

**May 15th, 2008**

Humans really were so very fragile. And they didn't live nearly as long as Janus thought. He'd suspected that they led short lives, of course, but Virgil had informed him with a seriousness beyond his years that 70 was considered old among the humans. A mere 70 years? That was it? How old was Anxiety? He was what, going to be eighteen that year? He was growing so fast, it felt like only yesterday that he met the small seven-year-old boy with a stubbornness to rival a mule.

He stifled a small sob, burying the sound beneath a cough and rising to his feet. When he turned, Morality was standing a few feet away, watching him silently. "What do you want?" he snapped at xem.

Xe just watched him for a moment, then opened xyr arms wordlessly. Janus didn't hesitate to spring into his brother's embrace, not caring how childish it was. His brother was his warmth in the storm, his anchor.

Xe just rubbed his back in soothing circles for a while, until Janus was very nearly asleep curled upright against his brother's chest, and then scooped him up, careful to avoid crumpling his wings.

"What happened?" Patton asked softly.

Janus shook her head. _Please don't make me say it._

Patton shifted Janus in xyr arms and moved towards the house, swaying them gently and humming a lullaby under xyr breath. Janus recognized it as one of the ones that Virgil had taught them years ago. Something about copper and kitten whiskers.

It was oddly soothing.

"Humans,” Janus said dully. ”They live such _short_ lives. We'll have them for just a flicker, and then...then they'll be _gone_. Just like that." Her voice broke, and she angrily scrubbed at the tears on her face.

”Oh honey...” Morality pulled her closer. “I’m so sorry.” Xe stroked her hair gently, and Janus suddenly felt very much like a child again, curled in her mothers nest, surrounded by her friends and neighbors, the entire court and the very forest itself humming with a power that settled into her bones and lulled her to sleep.

”We can just cherish them while we're allowed. They’ve been through so much, and we’ve only been able to do so little for them. But all four of those kiddos adore you, Jan.”

”We can cherish them while we’re allowed,” Janus repeated. “Of course we will.”

Morality’s breaths ruffled her hair, and she closed her eyes again. “What will we do when they’re gone?” she whispered.

”I don’t know, Jan. I don’t know. They must think us terribly foolish, however, for getting so sentimental when even by human standards they are still quite young. We have no need yet to grieve.”

Janus smiled out the window where Virgil and October and Pranks were splashing about in the brook, laughing happily as they threw the water at each other playfully.

”For now, we just let them be kids.”

**Author's Note:**

> Virgil is Virgil intentionally, so...semi spoilers for “To the Waters” since we haven’t quite gotten to that bit in the main series yet. Hope you enjoy regardless!
> 
> xx Asher


End file.
